The Ties That Bind
by Kazumi Kuwabara
Summary: She thought she was going to have a peaceful four-day weekend away from school. She should've told the demons that before they kidnapped her to the Makai.
1. A Fish Out of Water

Kazumi: Alright, here's a _Yu Yu Hakusho_ fanfic that I've been plotting for some time. Hopefully it's as good on paper as I imagine it. I already have it in a three story saga so I'm going to try and finish it. Just for the sake of not being sued _Yu Yu Hakusho_ isn't mine, nor are the characters in it that you all know and love. I only own MY material and characters. Okay time to start the story!

'_Text' _- Thoughts

_Text _- Word emphasis, epilogue, prologue

* * *

A Fish Out of Water

_Running, running, she had to get away. Long, light blue hair streaming after her, white fox ears were laid back against her head. Behind her she could hear the dying cries of her family, her clan, as they were destroyed and she clutched tighter at the small bundle in her arms. But she did not stop. She had an obligation to her people to make sure that the child - HER child - lived. The child was the key. The woman ducked underneath the door of an abandoned home as the sound of explosions rang around her, causing her child to wail even louder._

"_Shh…it'll be alright." The woman cooed softly. She concentrated her energy into a small sphere and placed her hand on a nearby piece of ruble, pushing almost all of her power into the stone. Almost instantly a small rip appeared. The woman looked at her only child sadly, remembering the prophecy of her village. It was so much for such a small one too bear. To exact their clan's revenge against the one who killed them so many years from now when they had grown stronger. The mother stroked her child's light blue locks lovingly, looking into the deep blue eyes of the babe. As she sensed the awful danger approaching faster she kissed her baby on the forehead and focused on the infant's spirit, condensing the body and soul into a small form of a ball of light. She clutched it to her chest, weeping softly. _

"_My child, please hear my last words to you. Wherever I send you, always know that I love you dearly, my daughter." With those words still ringing in her mind she softly urged the ball of light into the rip in the stone. There was a moment of hesitation before it went through and the rip closed, leaving the woman alone in the deserted building. Suddenly a huge wall of ruble started to tip and before the woman could move it came down, trapping her in a cage of stone. She sighed and waited for her untimely death. For what seemed like an eternity she waited and eventually heard all of her village go quiet. By now it must have seemed like a ghost town when out of the blue, she heard footsteps swiftly jog over to the place she was buried. Her muscles tensed as the person stopped in front of the stone. The woman could hear rocks being moved, and as the last one was taken away, she looked up into the light to see a small figure crouched down before her._

"_Ma'am, are you alright?"_

--

It had been a _very_ exhausting day for the fourteen year old, Japanese-American. It was almost the end of the first quarter of eighth grade and she just about had to work all-nighters so she could turn all her late work in. The girl admitted that she had been lazy – a shame upon the Asian stereotype – but now that she had finished all she had to do was relax. There was a four-day weekend that awaited her and she was going to use it for all it's worth.

Right after she forcibly removed her brother from her door frame.

"C'mon Kazumi!" The boy, two years her younger, pleaded as he remained clinging limpet-like to the wood, despite the middle schooler pulling on his ankles. "You're the only one who knows the password to the TV-"

"And as I said before – I'm _not_ giving it to you. You're grounded remember?" Kazumi growled, pulling harder. It wasn't an easy task. Andrew had already taken three years of wrestling and was now onto his fourth – the kid had some serious arm muscles for being so damn scrawny! "So until you do _all_, and I mean _every_, single, mundane chore that mom is having you do and then call her to get the okay, I'm not going to tell you!"

"So can I watch it with you?"

'_Sneaky aren't you, thinking of a way to get around being grounded?'_ The girl thought. "I'm not watching anything downstairs." The twelve year old gave her a curious look before Kazumi grinned evilly down at him. "I'm going to be chillin' up here with my portable DVD player." While her brother was distracted with feeling appalled by his sibling's behavior, the brunette took the opportunity to give one last good yank to detach the nuisance.

It worked, for about ten seconds, which she took to leap clear over Andrew and into her room, locking her door the minute she got inside. She leaned against it, feeling the harsh pounding that the door received from the boy on the other side through the wood and sighed. Now the teen just had to wait it out. There were some not-so youthful words said, none of which she was going to tell her mother unless she wanted to start another fight the minute the parent got home, and some moments when Kazumi thought that her brother might've killed the barricade she put between them. But after a few minutes, it was over. He left cursing his sister like a sailor and said sister returned to the position on her bed she was in before the fiasco occurred.

"Holy scrap metal Batman, I'm _pooped_." The adolescent moaned as she stared aimlessly at her white ceiling. "Being the older sister is hard…at least we didn't get in a fist fight this time though, he would've kicked my ass." As she lay on her blue-blanketed mattress, Kazumi let her eyes go around her room. They finally rested on a family picture taken when she was still in kindergarten. When her family was still together.

'_Okay, not going to go there. I'm almost to the "vacation", so let's think happy thoughts! …whoopee…'_ The brunette rolled over so that her head rested smack dab in the center of a large pillow. Thinking about what her family used to be like brought up some sad memories. They, like almost every other American family in that day and age, had gone through a divorce when she and her brother were very young. Kazumi and Andrew lived with their father for a while until something happened with him, then they went to live with their mother. After a while everything settled back down and her parents, although apart, had a stable relationship with one another. The whole thing was very hard on her younger brother, for him to be at such a young age when it all started, and it changed his personality into a meaner one than she remembered. As a result they bickered constantly, but there were some good days where the brunette swore that her little bro was bipolar. Either that or he had two very different personalities.

"Alright then, what shall we watch today…maybe some _Ayakashi_? I feel in the mood for a good ghost story." She stretched, her short, brown hair tossing ever which way. Kazumi looked mostly like her mother – dark brown hair and brown eyes while Andrew looked like her father – black hair and dark brown eyes. They both had the same body type from their Japanese heritage, lean, whereas their faces were more of the American variety. Kazumi stood at 4'10" and her brother made it to her shoulder at 4'7".

It was funny because both of them practically had the same face, but they acted completely opposite of one another.

An hour passed and the teenager was about two-thirds of a way through her program when a loud and somewhat irritated knock at the door caught her attention. "Hey…I'm done…"

"Did mom give the okay?"

"Yeah…" Pausing the show, Kazumi pushed herself off of her bed and unlocked the door, not at all surprised to see her younger brother's pouting face glaring up at her.

"Wasn't that hard was it?" She smiled, thinking that the ordeal was over. Her guess was wrong as a sharp pain erupted in her shin, almost causing Kazumi to cry out. Almost.

"Don't do that again." The younger boy commanded as she struggled not to show any weakness. The teenager shrugged nonchalantly and coolly gave her sibling the password to the first floor television. As Andrew ran like a runaway bull downstairs, the brunette calmly walked back into her room, closed the door, buried her face into a pillow and cursed to the highest of heavens about her brother that should've never been born.

--

"Thank God for mom's good cooking," sighed the girl contently as she slipped into a plain white tee-shirt and black running shorts. "Thank you, thank you, and thank you." Dinner had gone over well, thankfully as she already said. Usually there was a chance of scattered bickering while the family of three sat eating their food in the living room, but whether or not they had a good show to distract the siblings was always the key for a quiet meal. She thought another fight was going to start between her mom and brother but they were able to settle the dispute without any fur flying.

"Kiddo, I'm coming in." A feminine voice called from outside her room.

"Okay!" The teen replied. There were probably only a few people who didn't make her life as she knew it into troublesome situations; her mother was one of them. Many, many times she praised whomever was watching over her for a mother that she really got along with, unlike the other girls at her school who constantly fought pettily with theirs. Kazumi could absolutely call the woman her first best friend in public and not have a care in the world.

Ms. Kuwabara walked through the door with a smile on her face, "Hey hun, how was your day?" She asked as she sat down on the corner of the bed.

"It's good. I got all my work in."

"That's great. That's really great." Kazumi grinned as her mother ruffled her hair affectionately. "For a second there I thought I was going to have to ground you."

The girl scoffed. "Yeah, good luck with that. I'm not affected by your feeble attempts to deprive me of social contact – I'm already a social reject."

"What about Haru?"

"…never you mind then." The older woman laughed and kissed her daughter on the forehead while the two exchanged hugs. Just as she was about to leave, she turned back around.

"I almost forgot to ask, do you want your window open? It's a little stuffy on this floor and I want to air it out a bit." The eighth grader nodded and her mother left soon after opening her window. Once the lights were off, Kazumi started imagining about a few things just to get herself sleepy, as she always did. A few sniggers and weird face or two afterward and she could feel the darkness of unconsciousness creep up on her. As she slowly drifted off however, she felt the air around her grow tense. Kazumi moaned at the thought of having to deal with the _certain types of people_ who gave her the…what did the boy on TV who had her same last name call it? Oh, right, the _tickle_ feeling. She blamed her father's side of the family for this, ever since she was in grade school. It never failed to surprise her with visits from the dead at ungodly hours of the night or early morning. _'And my friends say that we're not alike at ALL…gee, wonder how they came up with that one? A pox on my psychic family. Screw you all, ya friggin' poltergeists, I'll deal with you in the morning.'_ With that last thought in mind she finally closed her eyes for a good nights sleep……or so she thought.

--

The night still felt edgy around one o' clock in the morning, and for good reason. Under the watch of the nearby street lamp, two abnormal figures silently skulked around in the cul-de-sac, as if looking for something. As the street lamp flickered ominously one of the misshapen figures pointed to a house on a nearby corner with an open window on the top floor. With nods of agreement they took off toward the home.

--

"Nhh…" The brunette groaned slightly at the offending noise that had jostled her from her deep slumber. Through her clouded minds eye she could hear something moving around in her room. She kept still, not wanting to attract notice, but she couldn't keep her heart from beating faster as her fear peaked as she _saw _two figures inside her room.

'_Just lie still and they won't pay any attention to me.'_ Her throat tightened and breath stilled as the two figures turned toward the bed. _'Oh crud.' _Before she could utter a cry out to her family she was held down against the bed, kicking and screaming as well as she could with a hand over her mouth. As the brunette thrashed about against her assailant's grip she felt something cold being held against her left arm. There was a small sting, but it was somehow enough to put her whole body into a state of shock. The last thing that Kazumi was able to comprehend before her world went into utterly black was a roaring in her ears and a feeling of weightlessness. Then she was gone.

After what seemed like an endless slumber, she was finally able to open her eyes. Nothing had changed though, everything remained pitch black. Even after a few minutes of adjustment it was still as dark as it was when she woke, if not just a teensy bit lighter. _'What the_–_? Where…where am I? …And what is that smell?' _The teenager went to rub her nose clean of the musky odor in the crook of her arm, and hit something with her elbow instead. Something metal, and cylindrical.

By looking just a bit closer she saw thick lines of black loosely crisscrossing around her in what looked to be a medium-sized room. It reminded her of prison bars…

'_Bars… wait _–_ whoa! I'm in a CAGE? Crap, ohhhhh crap…what'd I do to deserve this? Shoot! That whole pox thing was just a joke!'_ She let out a small whimper of discomfort when a sudden shuffling to her right alerted her to another presence. Not just that one…if she concentrated – sure enough, there were others in here just like her; locked in cages…but somehow different…

"So, you're the new kid huh?" A light, male voice came from the direction she first heard the shuffling from. Kazumi turned her head around the room. Far off in the corner she saw a dark silhouette get up from its sitting position and cross the room and stopped at the bars in its own space. Instinctively, she scooted back a bit just in case. "Relax. I'm not going to hurt you." The voice said again, "I'm here too after all, and I don't plan on making enemies with fellow inmates. Girls especially." The brunette blinked a few times to try and see what the person looked like. After blinking furiously in the darkness, the teenager's eyes finally got used to their surroundings. She looked closer at the figure and determined that it was a boy, but that wasn't all. She gaped and made a small, but noticeable squeaking noise. The boy who stood just a little ways from where she sat…did not the least bit human look human.

The boy chuckled, "Ah, I see. Never seen a youkai before huh?" She shook her head dumbfounded. "Well since it's your first time I'll let you have a good look." From his leaning position he got off the bars and spun around slowly for good measure. From her point of view it looked like he was a reptile of some sort. His skin was dark and had an odd texture to it that she could only assume that it was scales, and he wore a crude brown tank and pants. A long, scaly tail that extended from his backside and two pointed ears that were somewhat hidden, poked out slightly from his short, volumous hair. "So," he continued almost casually. "What's a ningen doing in a Makai slave market?"

It took the middle schooler a little over a minute to deduce what the demon was talking about before realization caused her to gape wildly. She suspected that the term 'Fish out of water' applied perfectly to her traumatized expression. Oh the irony. _'WHAT the HELL am I doing in the Demon World?! So that means that…damn! Those were youkai that I saw…'_ The two darkened figures in her room instantly came to mind as she clenched her fist angrily._ 'How could I have been so STUPID? Argh…now my head hurts…oh, wait a minute-'_ Another sudden and much more ecstatic insight brought a grin to her face. She would've laughed hysterically but managed to hold it in for the fear that something might happen if she said anything._ 'It's REAL, it's all real! Oh YES!! Haru SO owes me twenty bucks for this!'_

"Yo, earth to ningen kid, you alive?" The boy's call jerked her back to the unpleasant reality. She tried as hard as she could to reply but something in her brain wasn't clicking that moment. It was the shock, she concluded silently. "What, can you not speak or something?" She paused for a moment before nodding. Hopefully if she couldn't talk her big mouth wouldn't get her into trouble. Yes, that would do.

Suddenly, another more menacing and blood-chilling voice spoke up out of the gloom. "It wouldn't matter Ryo." It mocked sadistically as Kazumi turning her head shakily towards the voice. "Even if that filthy ningen could talk, I'd tear her annoying tongue out the minute she did."

'_Well, there's another reason for me to keep my big, trouble-making mouth shut.'_ She quietly thought to herself, forcing her head to look away from her neighbor who she could only assume was thinking of ways to skin and gut her. _'Oh…so that's where the smell was coming from__…__'_

As she looked back to the boy, now known as Ryo, she could've sworn that for a split second she saw Ryo's eyes glint with such anger that it caused a serious _bad feeling_ sensor to go off. "That so?" He said, tone dripping of cynicism. "What if I just _happened_ to cut off your arm, Ukimo_-san_?" The reptilian youkai turned back to Kazumi with his genuine smile returned to his face. "Don't worry about him, it's not like he can do anything to you anyways. There's a biiig no-no rule about killing other slaves. Bad for profit if you know what I mean. So you shouldn't worry about most the creeps in here," his voice dropped to a very, very low whisper; but not so low enough so she couldn't hear it from across the room. "For the most part the youkai in here are really weak and low class, not to mention stupid."

"I resent that Ryo," another voice spoke up, much lighter and feminine than the last one, but definitely just as deadly sounded from somewhere off to the teen's right. "Now take it back before I rip off your tail and shove it up your-"

"Hey, hey, hey! Calm down already, jeez…" Ryo rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he turned to face someone three cells from him. "Alright, intros – new kid this is Maori. Maori, new kid."

Kazumi's eyes went to a nearby cell and almost choked on her lung from trying not to laugh. The girl had very piercing eyes that could undoubtedly cut glass and was wearing some kind of black shirt and pants. She looked like a Goth, unbelievable! A Goth demon! But, that's not what actually got to her. It was the huge, poofy, adorable, rabbit ears coming out of her cropped hair and fluffy rabbit tail poking out of her pants. _'Oh my God…it's a visual oxymoron.'_

Maori turned to face the Kazumi with a cold stare at the estranged sound the girl tried to hold back. "You think something's funny? Huh?" Kazumi shook her head rapidly as to not offend the angry youkai that was currently giving her what was known as the Stink Eye. "Hmph, good. I hate it when I get crap about the ears and tail." The Usagi youkai muttered.

Ryo turned his head towards Kazumi just a bit. "Especially from the guys, you have no idea how much she hates men until you see her get really pissed off."

"Ryo!"

"And she can hear practically anything with those big, _stupid_ ears of hers!"

"…I am going to kill you."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Maori-_tan_."

"_What was that?!_"

Kazumi shook her head sadly as the two youkai bickered. _'Dude, I'd be ticked too if I was born looking like a person out of a Playboy Mag.'_

Maori turned toward Kazumi again and leaned on her set of bars. "So, you can't talk, at all?" She decided to stick with that story for a while so she nodded her head somewhat solemnly. "That sucks…well anyways it's almost nighttime so you should get what little sleep you can get."

Kazumi watched as Ryo and Maori went to the back of their cells so she decided to follow their example and do the same. As she went back she saw a small cot that she eagerly laid down on; it smelled a little odd but she could deal since there wasn't much of a choice. In the back of her mind she got to thinking. She decided that the two youkai that she had just met might be the only people in that God-forsaken stink hole that would probably talk to her, a lowly human in any other demon's eyes and that it would be much better to be their new ally than an enemy. It would be easier for her to stay alive longer if she had some buddies on the inside. Kazumi sighed, she sounded like she was in a high security prison that there wasn't a cold chance in hell that she was going to get out of. But the one thought that constantly rang throughout the teen's subconscious was how in heaven's name she was supposed to get home when she was being held hostage in a place – a dimension – that wasn't even supposed to exist.

* * *

Kazumi: Yosh! First chapter done and done, hope you liked it and please turn in for the next installment that will be coming in soon. And, always remember to R&R. Ja ne minna-san!


	2. How Much Is That Ningen In The Window?

Kazumi; Okay, onto the second chapter of my YYH story, I hope you like it. _My_ computer has been acting up lately, as in I haven't been able to upload my stories from it, so I've been going to my dad's to do it. Alrighty then, onto the second chapter! Now for the DISCLAIMER! - I do not own _Yu Yu Hakusho_ in anyway whatsoever, if I did…I'D STEAL YOUKO FROM ALL YOU FANGIRLS OUT THERE! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

'_Text'_- Thoughts

_Text_/**Text**- Word emphasis

'**Text'**- Sound effects

How much is That Ningen in the Window?

In the darkness of the structure that imprisoned her, the teenager lay on her cot, aimlessly staring at the grimy, stone ceiling above her. Usually around this time she would be sleeping – when she was in her own bed. Nowadays she barely got any, like now for instance. But that wasn't all, although she wished that it was.

In the three weeks that the brunette had stayed in the Makai, numerous things had gone for her. She was treated like dirt, not any surprise there. Was given death threats several times by the other occupants of the building including her next-door neighbor, which was terrifying in itself. Was starved to the point of having no other choice than eating the other-worldly, mystery slop that was served to her. She grimaced at the very thought of what could be in it. Kazumi also had gotten no chance to clean herself within that time either; also, another thing that she seriously did _not_ need. She received a new _name_ as well, if anyone could call it a name. Her two new friends, Ryo and Maori, called her Jou-chan since they didn't know her actual name, soon after every other demons in the shit-hole followed suit. Thankfully, the funniest part of the entire situation was having the man in control of the entire compound being none other than a damn rat; a demon chipmunk named Fuuto.

The fourteen year old quickly stifled her snickers at the memory of the time when she first saw him. Any sound from her might cause a problem, so she settled for laughing in her own head.

It happened in the middle of her second week there. She was as usual, silent, listening in on Maori and Ryo talking about how crappy this place was. Ukimo was being a bastard as usual and bugging the hell out of her from the side. Kazumi found out that he was some race of orc and started to call him Uruk-hai not too long after she had first arrived. Everyone else was doing their own kind of thing when suddenly a piercing light from the top of the stairwell nearly blinded them. They all groaned at the sudden brightness, especially Kazumi since she hadn't seen _any_ since she had got there and abruptly stopped when she heard a nasally, squeaky voice speak from the upper level.

"Alright ye little maggots, inspection time! Out of yer cells, line up, and no funny business!" Kazumi's eyes bugged out and she almost choked on the breath she was holding in when she caught a glimpse of the speaker – he was a damn _chipmunk_! Big cheeks, short, hairy, buck teeth, fuzzy, round ears perched on top of his head and all! Oh, it took all of her willpower, even more so than when she first saw Maori, to keep herself from dropping onto the dirt floor in hysterics right then and there; but then it would get her already gross, brown one piece even dirtier…not that it mattered much. While the rodent hopped quite _cutely_ down the stone stairs, some amphibian-like guards came by each of the cells, opened them, placed shackles on the occupants, and lined them up outside in the tiny hallway.

The fuzzy man slowly made his way down the stairs and went over each of the occupants until he came upon the teenage human. There were several thoughtful noises emitted as he encircled Kazumi, examining her from his point of view, making her start wanting to smack him upside his furry head. He nodded several times before snapping his stubby fingers commandingly, having one of the fish-men bring over a very high stool for him to stand on until he up to her nose. She was near tears now but still barely managed to control it. _'Ohhh, way too funny! It's the lost member of the Chip 'n Dale Rescue Ranger's, HAHAHAHAHA _–_ HEY! Dude, get your gross-ass hands off my face, NOW!'_ She mentally fumed as the chipmunk youkai grabbed her chin, turning her face from side to side.

"Yer scrawny for a ningen, but pretty filled in for a kid."

'…_I didn't just hear that, I _really_ hope I didn't just hear that…'_

"So what might yer name be?" Kazumi just continued to give him a blank look as he asked her again and again until he lost it and angrily demanded her to answer his question. When the brunette still wouldn't answer his question and the demon made a move to hit her, somewhere over by the front of the line someone spoke up. Someone she knew.

"She can't speak Mr. Boss-man," Ryo called out down the left side of the line. "We ended up calling her Jou-chan 'cause it's so much easier ya know?" The boy smirked. Not two seconds later, he was bent over in pain as the guards by him punched him in the stomach for the sarcastic remark while the rodent turned back to Kazumi with a wicked smile on his puny face.

"Jou-chan eh? Well then, I guess that's what we'll be calling ye from now on." He got down from the bench, snapped his fingers to have it removed and continued onto the next person. Silently breathing a sigh of relief after she was placed back in her cell, she looked up at the doorway that the head-man was slowly walking up to. Outside she could clearly see a blood-red sky with dark clouds and a few streaks of lightning. The door was closed and she was once enveloped in darkness she went back to her cot and fell asleep.

That was a week and a half ago and since then and Kazumi had grown a little; both emotionally and physically. She had become somewhat resilient to the daily threats and the orc next door, especially after that one incident between him and her that occurred not too long ago. She had actually gotten in a punch to the nose when his insults got a little too personal, which made her very happy to have finally gotten some revenge on the creature. Surprisingly enough, it was enough that his nose broke, which made her two comrades howl with laughter along with all of the other occupants of the building. After that the rest of the residents gave her a _small_ ounce of respect but only made the orc hate her even more, with reason.

Something else that the brunette was happy to have in the dismal world was the small friendship that evolved over the time she was in captivity. She, Maori, and Ryo had gotten closer in companionship and the three of them formed something along the lines of a small friend-family; Kazumi, being the younger, innocent child, while the two older youkai played well to the protective older sibling roles.

As she continued to stare at the ceiling, now moving on to counting how many bloodstain-ish looking spots adorned it, the fourteen year old thought back to a couple of days ago. She huffed loudly. It was when the group was informed by the midget boss that pretty soon they were all going to be sold off at a large, regular auction; the fluffy stated that he was going to be _so_ glad to be rid of them all shortly after. When he turned to leave, and no one was watching, the young girl made the note of viciously sticking her tongue out at the small rodent and flipping him the bird, astonishing her two friends by making the first harsh, mocking action towards anyone since she had arrived.

Now it was the day of the venue and by now there was no point in getting any sleep at all. She was just too nervous at being in front of tens maybe even hundreds of perverted, murderous youkai; as well as the fact that she was going to become property didn't help calm her at all. The brunette sighed again and turned her head to the side, smiling not a moment later. Across the hall, Kazumi could see Maori and Ryo couldn't sleep either as she saw them wish her the best of luck from their cots. She did the same by giving them two thumbs-up from her own cell and turned back to the wall to try and desperately get some shut-eye.

Around the time before dawn broke, about two or three hours after Kazumi closed her eyes she guessed, several unnamed demons both male and female came into each of the cells and took the occupants away into separate rooms to clean them and prepare for the auction. Before the teenager was led away she swiftly ran to her friends and pulled both of them into a reassuring group hugs back before being roughly pulled by the unknown female youkai into her changing-room. Inside, which amazed her greatly by it being clean and furnished, she was given a cold shower and new clothes. By the time the woman was done with her she looked completely different, or at least what she looked like when she was back at home. The teen much cleaner than she was previously and was given a clean brown one piece to wear.

Then it was time to go outside. On her way up the stairwell shackles were placed on her wrists and ankles to keep her from running. As if she really had anywhere to go to, Kazumi scoffed silently. It didn't take long to get out of the basement, but the moment the brunette set foot out of the enclosure she was scared shitless. The atmosphere was menacing, typical Makai after all, and out of the corner of her eye, the girl could see a boat-load of people already gathering in front of the selling platform. She was led to the back of the auction stand to wait for her turn.

'_Crap… like I wasn't nervous enough already. Ohhh boy, this sucks… _I want my Mom! W_hoa – where did that come from? Scratch that _–_I WANT TO GO HOOOME__!'_ Kazumi mentally sniveled like that for a couple of minutes, not showing any emotion whatsoever on the outside as she waited for her turn with the exception of the twitching of her fingers and knawing at the inside of her cheek.

Every so often, Kazumi would look back every few second at her friends behind her who waved and gave her thumbs-up. The teenager nodded passively, trying to keep her fake smile. She could hear people in the audience calling out prices in droves, some things she couldn't even make out, her heartbeat growing steadily faster with each raise in cost until the loud, final crack of the gavel caused the beating appendage to leap into her throat. The youkai that stood beside the stairs like a bouncer grabbed hold of her arm and slowly but steadily led her up the creaky wooden stairway. The flight of stairs was short so it didn't take long at all for her to step up onto the center broad stage between Fuuto and the auctioneer. The auctioneer, she noticed, looked like an owl youkai and sounded like a very intellectual person as he quieted the crowd, go figure. She looked over out to the audience, going over the faces of the crowd in her mind.

The fourteen year old was still for a few seconds before taking a barely unnoticeable breath in and slowly relaxing herself, grinning like a maniac inside her own head. _'Alright then, okay! I will _not _be scared; I will _not _let this get to me – SO SCREW YOU DEMONIC JERKS!! A Kuwabara _never _backs down from a challenge!'_ She straightened herself up and regained her composure as the auctioneer read off the sheet he held in his hand – her sheet.

"Human girl. Age unknown; looks to be in adolescent stages. Good condition, possibly a virgin," Her jaw almost dropped but she was able to stop herself just in time. She kept silent and took her anger out on her bottom lip; a habit that she developed when she first arrived. "We'll start the bid at fifteen." Now _that_ caused a reaction.

'_WHAAAAAT?!'_ She screamed internally. _'You stupid, feathered, pin-head, you are _so_ lucky that I have chains on or I'd smack you upside the head with a two-by-four – I AM NOT WORTH THAT LOW!!'_

"Twenty-five!"

'_Oh, you must be joking…'_

"Thirty-two!"

"Fifty!" As more calls of higher prices rang out, Kazumi entertained herself by observing who her bidders were. Most of the time it looked like a lot of them were something out of a horror story, and then there were the decent guys that could only be classified as bishonen in her book. Time passed, the bids had got higher, nobody had yet given in, and Kazumi was getting more and more bored each passing minute. Then, right in the middle of a closed mouth yawn, a loud, pompous voice abruptly rang out over the audience.

"_A hundred eighty_!" There were excited whispers throughout the crowd and a small circle was quickly opened around the bidder. Beside her she could hear Fuuto giggle with mirth as he caught sight of the person, not a very good sign. Leaning a bit to the side smaller youkai caught her attention and slightly pointed at the person.

"Oy, Jou-chan, see that man there?" She turned her gaze back to the speaker who had surprised the crowd. He was dressed in some kind of fancy, manly kimono, which was _way_ too bright and flashy for her tastes, and had two sultry women, one hanging on each arm. Even still, if you could see that he was actually a guy, that was the only high point about him. His hair was similar to that of a kabuki actor and the color of a very ripe lime. His face was a very pointy oval shape with high cheek bones and she could've sworn that she could see a trace of lip-gloss on his lips. But, the thing that scared her the most, the _worst_ thing about that man was the color of his skin.

It was _bright_ pink.

In the girl's mind, her inner-self could be seen sticking her head in a deep hole, burying it, and screaming muffled wails of "_PIIIIIIIIIIIINK_!" while outside Kazumi dumbly nodded at Fuuto, her left eye twitching ever so slightly.

"His name is Nadeshiko. That man is a small noble lord that lives just a few leagues away from here in a marvelous castle, and on top of that he's filthy rich!" Fuuto gave her a hidden thumbs-up and giggled in true ten year old schoolgirl fashion. "He's yer best bet here! Well…_my_ best bet here anyways, I know I'll get a lot of money out of him!" The brunette looked back to the crowd and shivered as the pink-man winked at her flirtatiously. Beside her, while the auctioneer continued counting off, she prayed that someone would stop him in time.

"Hundred eighty going once, hundred eighty going twice, hundred eighty going three times…" There seemed to be no hope for her until something very unexpected happened.

"Two hundred." The crowd, auctioneer, daimyo, ningen and slave-trader alike were astounded as another voice rang out, music to Kazumi's ears. Once again the crowd parted, but this time there was no creepy-looking man, hell she couldn't even describe his features for one very important reason.

His entire body was covered in a dark grey cloak; that of which included having a hood over his head, shadowing his eyes from everyone and a face mask covering his mouth and nose.

The first thing that popped inside her head was a grateful prayer to God for someone that stopped her from being bought by the… _'What would Haru call him? Man-whore? Yeah, that's about right.'_ Following up that would be the inspection of the one who saved her, so to speak. He looked mysterious to a point of actually _wanting_ to be mysterious. And although Kazumi was very thankful that someone had stepped up to oppose the pink-man, her gut told her differently.

Meanwhile, the two highest bidders, Nadeshiko and the mystery man, sized each other up as they quietly gave each other a 'You do realize, that this means WAR!' glare. Upon finishing the staring contest of death, the duo looked back to the stand to the teenage human and thus began their battle.

"Two hundred twenty!"

"Two hundred fifty-five."

"Two hundred ninety-eight!"

"Three hundred forty."

"Three hundred seventy-seven!" The biddings continued to rise to larger and larger value as the grand tug-of-war grew between the two competitors. Pinkie, as Kazumi had silently deemed him, clearly became excitable at each raise in dollar while the hooded man stayed entirely calm throughout the situation. At the same time, two sides formed; those cheering for the preppy noble and those cheering for the cloaked crusader. Kazumi rooting for the latter, with no second thought. Behind her the other slaves-to-be-sold were poking their heads through the dais's banister to see what the entire hubbub was about and soon joined the fiasco along with everyone else. Maori and Ryo immediately started shouting for the masked one's win along with their friend, not wanting their "younger sister" to go with the fruity lord.

Then, things took a turn for the worse as Pinkie made a desperate move.

"TEN THOUSAND!" All grew still, the only sound you could hear was the frequent ominous thunder in the background accompanied by a stilled wind. On the stand Kazumi's heart had literally stopped in her fear that it was all over. Fuuto's eyes had almost popped out of his head. Behind them, Maori and Ryo's breath hitched in their throats, the rabbit demon starting to silently pray for their little friend. Below in the crowd the mystery demon ground his teeth and cursed at the smug, little creep who had no idea just _who_ exactly he was really dealing with.

'_Whooo…just you wait pretty boy, you _will_ pay for that costly move. Pompous bastard, I'm going to love killing you if I ever meet up with you outside of this D-class shit hole…'_ He looked back up to the ningen girl whose eyes practically pleaded – begged with him to get her out of the horrible situation. He sighed and shrugged mockingly waiting for the opportune moment to once again interrupt the auctioneer and turn the tide. _'He is gonna kill me for this…I hope she's worth it, the poor kid.'_

On the stand Kazumi watched as the demon shrugged and turned his gaze to the auctioneer. _'What's he waiting for?'_ She paused, fear taking hold of her chest as realization hit her in the chest. _'Did, did he give up? No – NO! Please don't give up! C'mon, you can do it! COME ON!'_

"Ten thousand going once…" The owl auctioneer called out, ringing ominously in the fourteen year old's ears.

'_Please don't let him do this.'_

"Ten thousand going twice…"

'_I beg you!'_

"Ten thousand going three times…"

'_PLEASE!'_

"So-" The moment that her fate with the demon lord Nadeshiko seemed sealed, within the crowd a booming voice shouted above the mass of demons and resonated with the thunder crack that sounded above them.

"**THIRTY THOUSAND!!!**" Loud exclamations filled the area as the cloaked crusader crossed his arms smugly and glanced over at Nadeshiko with a victorious look before the lord sniffed indignantly and stomped off, a whore in each arm. No human was worth almost a third of his fortune. Kazumi felt like she could cry with joy, but she managed to hold do that later when there weren't so many people around. Beside her, the demon rat that once presided over her had fainted dead away while her two comrades behind her were whooping and hollering loudly in celebration along with the others who had somewhat acknowledged her in the past.

A polite cough at the podium drew the attention back to His Honor, the owl, presiding. "Th-thirty thousand, eh?" He grinned weakly. "Thirty thousand going once, thirty thousand going twice, thirty thousand going three times-" The youkai paused again to see if anyone else would dare try to compete with the steep price and shook his head at how amusing the situation turned out to be as he finally banged the gavel. "SOLD, to the man in the cloak!" As the young brunette was led off the platform to her owner, the auctioneer smiled at her as she passed. "Good luck with that one." He whispered. She nodded back before going down the stairs onto solid ground once again. She took a deep breath, slowly calming her erratic heat-beat from the stressful event when a fairly familiar voice sounded from behind her.

"Girl, you had better be worth that thirty thousand, or my boss is going to throw me to his pets." She looked up to find the man in the cape eye smiling at her. It was then that she noticed the color of his eyes. They were a light purple, not harsh and cold that she would expect from a demon but that from a very loose, free spirited man.

'_Wow, pretty color. Come to think of it, the only demon person that I can think of with those color eyes is-'_ The girl immediately tensed at the thought but forced herself to calm back down as to not draw any attention from the youkai._ 'Do _not_ think about that – that _Gaylord_! This is happy time do you hear me? __HAPPY TIME__! Thank the sweet lord that you're not with that OTHER guy.' _Kazumi continued to look at the man for a few seconds in which not one of them said anything until the demon spoke up again with an inquisitive expression on his face.

"What? No thank you? Is something the matter?" She bit her lip slightly. She _did_ want to thank him, really she did; but remembering her pledge of silence she wisely kept her mouth shut. "Oh, is it because you're scared?" The man chuckled and rested a hand on the young teen's shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry about it. I promise that no harm will come to you where you're going so long as my boss or I'm around, understand?" Kazumi nodded slowly. Wasn't what she expected, but she'd wait until later to make her final assumption. All of a sudden, a nasally, squeaky voice spoke up from below them.

"Very, _very_ well done my good man, not that many people would be willing to pay that much for a ningen kid. Then again, we here have _incredibly _good tastes." Fuuto looked back and forth from the mystery man and the brunette with an all-knowing look on his fuzzy, little face. "If yer wondering, she can't speak. A mute, hasn't uttered a word since she got here."

"I see…well then, that's no trouble at all" He replied. The youkai rubbed his chin thoughtfully. _'Actually, that's much better.'_ He thought to himself. _'Since the first plan is now clearly out of the picture, I can use Plan B. We always needed one of those anyway.'_ "So does she have a name?"

The rat youkai shook his head, "Not that I know of; the others here called her Jou-chan. Ye can stick with that if ye want, I don't care."

"Jou-chan," the cloaked demon hummed pensively while glancing a look to the girl beside him. "We could work with that. I don't think anyone would mind." As he turned back to the slave camp owner, he missed the split-second look of annoyance that passed over Kazumi's visage.

'"_I don't think anyone would mind" my foot…'_

"Good, good. Now then," Fuuto rubbed his hands together greedily, "about the payment, I assume yer paying up front."

The mystery man laughed and reached into his beige cloak. "Of course, you didn't think I'd swindle you now would you?" After a little bit of fumbling, he pulled out a hefty bag of what clearly sounded like a lot of money and placed it into small demon's outstretched hands. Fuuto held it giddily, giggling that schoolgirl laugh again. Once he had fondled the cash long enough, the chipmunk youkai turned back to the cloaked crusader, pointing at him with a grave look on his face.

"Ye never know. There are damn dangerous people out there – _this _region especially, if you know what I mean." The hooded demon nodded in reply with just as much seriousness as Fuuto had.

"Yes, I know _exactly_ what you mean." Kazumi looked at him strangely. For some reason, the strange man's response seemed almost automatic. Practiced. There was no feeling to it. It was like he had said this too many a people over a long period of time..._as if he was trying to hide something_. Although she trusted the odd demon at the moment, things were slowly starting to seem even more dangerous than going with the pastel pansy that nearly won the bid. "If we are finished, we'll be going now. Thank you for this opportunity." The cloaked crusader took a hold of the fourteen year old's arm gently and swiftly lead her away from the auction stand. When they seemed far enough away, he unexpectedly whispered to her. "I would like to get out of here as quickly as possible. I don't think I paid that shrew enough and I don't want to use my influence on him with this many people around if it's not necessary." Kazumi gave him another strange look, mouth hanging open slightly.

'_Buddy, what exactly do you mean by _that_? You are seriously starting to freak me out here. Maybe I would've been safer with the flower-man.'_

"Alright, our ride is just around the corner." As the two rounded the corner of another building, they immediately came face to face with a horrible, demonic creature that immediately scared the crap out of the poor girl. It looked down at her with evil, beady eyes, opened its beak and emitted a nerve-wracking screech.

_**"WAAAAAAARRRKKK!**__**"**_ Kazumi scrambled backwards and hid behind the mystery man, whom of which just laughed and patted her on the head.

"Now, now, there's nothing to be scared of." He walked away from her to stand beside the creature, patting the back of its long neck to settle it down. "This is our ride. It's called a Kumodori. They are able to cross over great distances; which is why we're using it. The ride back is going to take us hopefully three days, hopefully if we don't make rest stops." The young teenager stared at it wide eyed with one thought continuously running though out her mind.

'_It's a God damn demon CHOCOBO!'_ True enough, if you changed the color of its plumage from gray-green to bright yellow and made it less rabid seeming, that's exactly what it looked like – just a fiendish and much, _much_ larger with a mouth like a predatory bird and sharp talons that should've been on the feet of a dinosaur. And its wings…she held in an impressed whistle. Its wings, even though they appeared to be folded in on themselves twice, were longer than the entire length of her arm.

The cloaked demon finished loading some heavy bags behind the saddle when he turned to her with an outstretched hand. "Here I'll help you up." He said supportively, but as far as Kazumi was concerned she wasn't going near that _thing_ with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole – UNLESS there was pocky involved, which wasn't at _all_ likely that there was pocky in Makai in the first place.

'_Not a chance dude!' _She shook her head rapidly and inched away from the giant bird. _'You'd have better luck of me eating fried worms before getting me on that _thing_!'_

"Hey, come on, it's not going to bite you." The brunette looked warily from the Kumodori to the youkai, trying to figure out which one was worse, when once again Fuuto interrupted her train of thought by squeaking loudly about being jipped of his payment and was quickly on his way over to Kazumi and the hooded man on those stubby legs of his, cursing every step of the way. "Damn, I knew there wasn't enough money in there. Looks like I'm going to have to scare the little bastard…" The mysterious demon clicked his tongue in irritation and started walking away from the riding bird when he stopped beside the young girl, crossing his arms. "I'll return shortly. Can trust you to stay _right here_?" Kazumi gave him a weak smile and thumbs up before she watched as the man strode over to meet the smaller youkai. She sighed. Did everything in this world have to be so stressful?

Kazumi's attention floated away from the two demons squabble when behind her she heard a ruffling sound as the bird monster cleaned its feathers. She glared at it and met its gaze as it too turned to stare menacingly at her.

'_Okay you demon chocobo, let's get this settled right here and now. I am the rider; you are the ridee, if that's even a word. You are not in control, _I_ am, or rather the Zelgadis look-alike is. But even still, if you even THINK about doing anything funny I will have you made into a Popeye's crispy chicken family basket, capeesh?'_ Sparks flew between the two as they stared each other down. Then with a moment of weakness the big bird blinked and Kazumi smirked triumphantly in its disappointed face. _'Ha ha haha ha! Youuu, blinked! What now, you over-grown pigeon?'_ The Kumodori ruffled its feathers, this time with frustration, and continued in cleaning them.

Kazumi, tired of waiting, glanced peevishly over to where the masked man had gone to see whether or not he was done. To her relief, she saw the cloaked demon making his way back over to where she stood when something interesting caught her eye. Behind him, she glimpsed the chipmunk youkai who once presided over her scamper away…frightened? _'No way, couldn't be…'_ The brunette looked over once more to confirm and to her surprise, she was right. Pants-pissing fear was plastered all across the smaller demon's face as he skittered back to the podium. Aghast, she looked over at the mystery man with wide-eyes. _'Jesus, what the hell did you say to him?'_

"Now that that's settled, we should get going now." Without batting an eyelash the demon swept Kazumi up in one arm and swiftly placed her on the saddle of the 'Demon Chocobo'. As she tried to get her bearings, he joined her a second later in front of her and secured the reigns in his hand while reaching into his side pouch.

'_Christ he's fast – HeyHEY__**HEY**__!'_ She objected loudly in her head as a thick, belt-like strap was wrapped around her waist, connecting the young teenager to the man in front of her. _'Get this thing OFF my waist right no_-_EEEEK!'_ She gasped in surprise as the Kumodori broke into a brisk sprint toward the tree-line and into the hellish woods that surrounded the compound. Instinctively, Kazumi fastened her arms around youkai's cloaked waist before her and gripped as hard as she could. _'Shoot, please don't let me fall!'_

"Oh, I forgot to tell you about the sudden start these birds have. My apologies." He took one of his hands off the reigns and rubbed his head sheepishly while still somehow able to retain an air of importance. "I suppose I'm so used to riding these things that I involuntarily assumed that you'd know as well." He gave a short chortle, causing the girl at his backside to glare at him from around the cloak blowing in her face.

'_He's laughing, I don't believe thi-'_ Suddenly one of her old fears caught up to her. _'__AAAAH! HANDS ON THE REIGNS! HANDS ON THE REIGNS YOU MORON!!'_ To keep him from giving her another heart attack she reached up shakily and grasped his wrist, pulling it back toward the leather strap that was whipping in the wind. He got the message soon enough and took hold of it.

"Sorry, was I scaring you with that?" All Kazumi could do was nod and the demon eye-smiled in understanding. "Alright, I'll try not to do that anymore." As the girl started to relax the forest abruptly broke into a rocky terrain. Glancing around them at the scenery that whizzed by, she was suddenly frightened as she spotted the edge of a cliff up ahead leading into a very, _very_ steep drop into a valley below.

'_Oh God, _please_ tell me that this loony toon isn't going off the cliff!'_ She felt the man in front of her twist around to face her.

"You better hang on tight Jou-chan, the take off is even worse than when this thing gets a running start."

'…_He IS going off the bloody cliff … AAAAHHHHH! OHMYGOD I'M GONNA DIEEEEE!'_ Kazumi's mouth opened into a silent scream as the giant bird, passengers and all, jumped off the ledge and fell through the air, but only for a split second. Her breath was pushed into her throat and at the very instant where she thought her life would flash before her eyes, the Kumodori opened up its wings.

Its _fifteen foot _wings.

The sudden motion stopped their fall in a harsh jolting motion and sent the creature into several mid-air corkscrews, jerking the occupants to the point of almost falling off. If it wasn't for the strap and the cloaked man's grip on the beast, they would've fallen to their deaths. A few seconds after the ordeal and the bird was easily gliding on the warm updrafts over the hollow basin below. The fourteen year old leaned over the side nauseously, tightly closed her eyes, and tried not to throw up.

'_Urgh, that felt like _The Griffon_ five times worse, I couldn't even enjoy it… and I feel like I'm gonna hurl…'_ To make it even more aggravating, she could hear the demon at the front laughing jovially from the same adrenaline rush that was making her sick.

"_That_ was exciting now wasn't it?" He looked back over his shoulder at the human girl who while a little green in the face, was still well enough to give him a glare that could crinkle paint at thirty paces. "Ah…sorry, again." The mysterious demon coughed into his hand. "At least I did tell you to hang on though I'm surprised you didn't scream. Anyway, you should look around. Not many ningens are able to see a sight like this." Kazumi sighed and glanced away from her seat. She was a bit hesitant at first but all that changed when she saw the horizon before her.

'_Oh WOW.'_ The sky, a blended color of oranges, reds, purples, and dark violets, stretched as far as the eye could see. Below her the dell's foliage shimmered frequently from the lightning flashes. To sum it all up in one word – _gorgeous_. _'Cool! _Way_ cool!!' _She smiled in awe. But as quickly as the feeling came, it left in a hurry when the teen noticed something crucial about her position. _'GAAAAAH – VERY HIGH! VERYVERYVERY HIGH!'_ Squeaking ever so slightly she tightened her grip on the man in front of her and buried her tightly closed eyes into his back.

"Hey now, is everything alright back there Jou-chan?" A swift shake of the head and frantic pointing into the gorge was all he needed. "Ah, I see. You're afraid of heights. Well don't fret, I'm right here. If you want you can stay like that for the duration of the trip. So go ahead and try to get some sleep." There was another small nod of understanding before his passenger began to grow still and her breathing slowed. He sighed and rubbed his eyes a bit before returning his gaze to the skies. "This is going to be a long three days." The cloaked man motioned for the bird to fly just a tad faster and the threesome sped off into the night towards their far off destination.

Kazumi: PHEW! Long chappie, AND NO MORE BRAIN-FART! So anyways, I see that some people like my _'Slayers'_ story, yay! Glad you like it! So now that this chapter is finished I'll move onto the next story, which is my BishWorld one. But before that I'd like to reveal the theme of my next upcoming story that I'll be starting as soon as I update my _'Slayers'_ fic again. Hope you liked this chappie so PLEASE REVIEW! Alright then, until next time minna-san, ja ne!


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